


Royal Rendezvous

by harryjamesgranger



Category: The Royals (TV 2015)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-08 10:30:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15928589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harryjamesgranger/pseuds/harryjamesgranger
Summary: Princess Penelope of the Netherlands finds herself wrapped up in a world of blossoming relationships, political coups, tyrannical kings and assassination plots after meeting Prince Liam of the United Kingdom.





	Royal Rendezvous

Princess Penelope of the Netherlands was no stranger to grand palace’s and extravagant parties.

It came with the territory when you were the third in line for the throne. Penelope, along with parties her elder siblings, had been trained in etiquette and social politics from an extremely young age.

Penny knew her way around these parties well, knew what to do, what to say, which dance partners to avoid and when to sneak away with a bottle of booze.

With that being said, she still wasn’t used to facing the vicious claws of Britain’s social elite without the backup of her older sister and younger brother.

It was times like this that she thought that maybe she should have just gone to university in Amsterdam like her older brother.

She quickly shook herself mentally at the thought.

No.

Cambridge had been the right choice for her, she had found a home in London that was so completely unlike the one she had been raised in back in Amsterdam.

Tonight wasn’t about her and her new life in London though.

Tonight was about Lenny.

Penelope had first met Princess Eleanor in a bathroom.

It had been her first event in London without her family, she had just moved there for uni and had been invited to a gala at Buckingham Palace. Knowing hardly anyone, Penelope had been a little anxious to say the least.

She had somehow managed to sneak a bottle of champagne from the open bar and hidden in a guest bathroom with it.

Lenny and Jasper had stumbled into the bathroom, in the midst of ripping each others clothes off at that, and only stopped at the sight of a half pissed Dutch princess sitting on the bathroom floor in an evening gown.

Lenny being Lenny had declared that they simply _had_ to keep her company and Penelope had found herself feeling grateful for the overwhelming kindness that she had received from the British Princess.

Jasper being Jasper was more subdued and quiet, but Penelope had been able to glimpse the biting and sharp wit that she had since learned was part of his charm. 

She had become fast friends with the two after that, learning all about their tawdry love story and Eleanor’s previous behaviours.

Tonight was the first time she had been to an event at the palace since they’d met, however. And she was finding herself to be a bit overwhelmed at the whole thing.

That was no way for a Princess to behave. Stiff upper lip and all that fun stuff.

No matter how many palaces she saw in her lifetime, Penelope hoped to never grow tired or disillusioned with them.

They were magnificent products of architectural and cultural triumph and, being from a relatively new monarchy in comparison to the British monarchy, she couldn’t help but adore the history she could sense in it’s walls.

There was a reason she studied history at university.

Her trail of thoughts on history and cultural impact on architecture were interrupted by the perfectly pitched yet piercingly clear voice of Princess Eleanor.

“Penny!” She called as she crossed the room towards the other princess, her fiancée trailing behind her with a petulantly fond roll of his eyes, “You’re here!”

“Hi Lenny,” Penny grins, moving forward and embracing her friend warmly, kissing her cheek affectionately, “Congratulations on your show, darling.”

“Oh thank you!” Eleanor beams as she hugs her friend tightly, “Even managed to wrangle this one into a suit for the occasion.”

“You can make it up to me later,” Jasper says with a secretive smile towards her.

Penny can’t help but to smile at the obvious love and devotion that seemed to radiate from the pair in front of her.

It was delightful but envy-inducing at the same time.

She longed for someone with whom she could feel that level of trust and love.

“No catastrophes so far I take it?” Penny asks with an arched eyebrow as she snags a flute of champagne off of a passing tray, taking a delicate sip from it.

“My mother keeps conveniently stealing me away to introduce me to people I’ve already bloody met five million times!” Eleanor huffs as she takes a long draw from the glass of scotch in her hands.

“You’ve got to love the monarchy,” Penny laughs lightly, shaking her head at the machinations of the older generation of royals.

While she hadn’t officially been introduced to Queen Helena, she could see the similarities between the older Queen and her own mother.

“Do I really?” Eleanor asks with a friendly narrowing of her eyes, “I could have just thrown a party at a club with lots of drinking and drugs!”

“You are nowhere near that dull,” Penny smiles in amusement at her friend, “You are much more extraordinary than that.”

“Babe, Liam’s here,” Jasper mutters to his girlfriend, interrupting her conversation with Penelope as his eyes fall on his blonde haired friend, “And Gemma’s about to make a bee line for him.”  
  
“Oh for fucks sake,” Eleanor groans as she tilts her head back, “Why does she keep getting invited to these things?”  
  
“Because your mum’s trying to marry her and Liam off?”  
  
Penny was contently watching the conversation devolve between the two lovers, so much so that she didn’t realise she was involved until Eleanor’s keen eyes turn towards her.

Then suddenly, she’s gripping the older princess’ wrist and tugging her forward hurriedly, “Come along, Pen!” She chirps cheerfully as she marches them across the room, “Time for you to meet my twin!”  
  
Penny can only do her best in order to keep up with the determined princess, trying to not trip over the skirts of her evening gown.

 

“Lenny!” She hisses slightly, her etiquette lessons preventing her from outright yelling at her friend, “What’s your rush?”

“You slow down, you die, babes!” Lenny laughs as she moves at an increasingly brisk pace. 

Truthfully, she had wanted to introduce her new friend to Liam for a while now but had been unsure of whether it was wise.

Unlike the dipshits that she was ordinarily responsible for introducing to her brother, Penny was actually capable of a human conversation that didn’t revolve around sex or drugs.

Although she was still trying to figure out just how innocent her new friend was. 

“Liam!” She calls out once she’s close enough to her brother, her grip still achingly tight around Penny’s wrist, “How delightful for you to grace us with your appearance.”  
  
“I’m surprised you’re still here,” Liam chuckles lightly at his twin sister, “I thought you would have vacated by now.

“Now now, Liam,” She tuts, a mischievous smile twisting over her lips that makes both Liam and Penny wary, “I am a properly polite princess, don’t you know?”  
  
“According to who exactly?” Liam snorts in response, his eyes falling on the woman beside his sister for the first time.

She was quite stunning, though most of the women that Eleanor allowed in her social circle usually were, with the most striking pair of blue eyes that he’d ever seen.

Dark and stormy, like the sea during a rough voyage, they were captivating and alluring to him.

“Made a new friend?”

“Ah yes,” Eleanor says with a twinkle in her own blue eyes, “This is my good friend, Princess Penelope of the Netherlands.”

The woman in question was currently doing her best to remain composed.

Penny was used to meeting royalty; being a member of a foreign royal family meant that she had stopped being astounded by pretty princes and handsome dukes a long time ago. Having _dated_ nobility for the entirety of her dating life, she was well aware how pompous and stuck up they could be. So much so that she had made more of an effort to distance herself from it since moving to London.

God knows she didn’t need a repeat of her relationship with Carter.

She had to hand it to him though, Prince Liam was absolutely gorgeous. She tended to stick to a type of sorts, dark hair and tall and usually overtly arrogant. While Liam certainly didn’t prescribe to this narrative, she couldn’t help but to feel flustered in his presence.

Not as tall as other men in her life, he still had a solid few inches on her and was handsome with dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes that seemed to capture her attention regardless of whether she wanted them to or not.

“A pleasure to meet you, Your Highness,” Penny says with a polite tilt of her head, a charming smile curved over her pale pink lips, “I would offer to shake your hand but Princess Eleanor seems to have prevented that.”  
  
“You have another,” Eleanor points out with an amused glance at her friend, her eyes moving between her brother and Penny carefully.

“Your grip is quite tight,” Penny says in response to her, “I’ve met diplomats with a weaker grip than yours.”  
  
“How unfortunate for them,” Eleanor says with a sneaky smile, releasing the Dutch Princess’ wrist regardless of her words.

 

It was nice, Liam mused, to see his sister be comfortable and trusting with someone outside of their immediate family.

It wasn’t often that Eleanor allowed people to get that close to her.

“The pleasure is all mine, Princess Penelope,” Liam says as she holds out her hand for him, raising the proffered hand to his lips and brushing a polite kiss to the back of it.

Penny feels that she is more flustered than she ought to be around the Prince.

Surely, he was just another Prince, right? There was no reason for her to be feeling flustered and girlish and _shy_ around him!

She knew of Prince Liam’s reputation, the way he made his way through girls swiftly without so much as a cursory dance. She had dated guys like him again, hell, her brother was like him up until his marriage to Lady Jessalyn Orowitz.

She wasn’t in any particular rush to get involved with someone like that again, even if his smile did make her insides turn to jelly.

“It’s lovely to be able to meet you finally,” Penny says with a kind smile towards him, “Lenny has told me a lot about you.”

It was somewhat shocking to Liam to find the genuineness that seemed to radiate from the woman in front of him. Most nobles didn’t have a genuine bone in their body and he had grown accustomed to it.

He was also extremely wary of what Eleanor had told her new friend about him. She had a tendency for the dramatic.

“I hope she hasn’t slandered me too severely?” Liam says with an amused glance towards his younger-by-four-minutes little sister, unsurprised to see the mischievous look dancing through her blue irises.

“Whatever could you mean, dear brother?” Eleanor asks with an innocent tilt of her head, something that is increasingly amusing to Liam when considering how not innocent she was.

“I’m referring to the fact that you enjoy embellishing stories for the most impact possible,” Liam points out sharply, his eyebrows raised in his sister’s direction.

Penny can’t help but to watch the encounter, enjoying the sibling banter endlessly, the spectacle almost distracting her from the fact that she’s standing in an opulent ballroom in Buckingham Palace between two heirs to the British throne.

“I would _never_!” Eleanor gasps in mock-outrage and mock-offense, her hand pressed delicately across her chest, “Would I, Penelope?”

Penny blinks at her friend in slight surprise, having not expected to get involved in this particular sibling spat.

“You’re many things, darling,” A voice interjects from behind them, “But a truthful storyteller is not one of them.”  
  
“How nice of you to join us, Mum,” Eleanor says with a forced smile on her face, the seemingly unnatural facial reaction looking extremely unusual on her face, “I could almost feel my self-esteem becoming significant again.”  
  
“Well we can’t have that,” Queen Helena says with a political smile towards her youngest child, her eyes flashing from her children to the woman joining them, “And who might you have dragged into your escapades this time.”

 


End file.
